1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of beds and more particularly, to an improved therapeutic bed which is especially advantageous to the user from a standpoint of health and which is designed to provide a relatively thin, horizontal mat that can be adjusted to provide various degrees of tension to promote comfort and therapeutic effects.
2. Prior Art
Most western societies today utilize beds which comprise a relatively thick mattress and a box spring supported by a substantially rectangular frame. Such bed configurations are particularly commonplace in the United States despite the advent in recent years of the water bed which is used by a small minority as a substitute for a conventional mattress and box spring. Such conventional bed configurations suffer a number of disadvantages. By way of example, typically such beds provide no means for adjusting individual portions of the surface to have varying degrees of tension to provide the greatest degree of comfort for various parts of the human body. Furthermore, such conventional beds tend to begin to sag within a relatively short time thereby reducing the comfort that the bed provided in its new condition and such sagging increases with the life of the bed thereby causing increasing degrees of discomfort often causing or at least exacerbating back problems experienced by a great many people nowadays. As much as eighty percent of the United States adult population has or has had back problems. Furthermore, with aging, a typical mattress tends to produce increasing amounts of dust resulting from disintegration of the material comprising the mattress such as foam rubber and other materials which gradually decay into a particulate-like material which readily escapes through the mattress cover. Furthermore, conventional mattresses used both in the home and hospitals do not normally allow air to reach the body surfaces that are in contact with the mattress surface. This problem which could for example, increase the incidence of detrimental perspiration during extended hours of sleeping, is particularly disadvantageous in hospitals for patients who must spend protracted periods of time in a hospital bed and who for one reason or another may be unable to vary their positions within the bed without help from nurses and other hospital personnel. Finally, prior art conventional beds do not provide any special form of lumbar support and therefore even when conventional mattresses are relatively new and have not yet begun to sag, such mattresses do not prevent strain on the lower back when the user is positioned flat on his back in a typical manner.
Accordingly, there has been a long-felt need for an improved bed which overcomes the aforementioned deficiencies of conventional beds. More specifically, there has been a longfelt need for a bed which provides proper support for the whole body and which includes a surface designed to come in contact with the body which is adjustable to provide varying degrees of tension whereby to control comfort levels for different parts of the body depending upon weight distribution and anatomy. Furthermore, the present invention solves the long-felt need for a bed support surface which does not create dust and dirt by the disintegration of materials commonly found in conventional mattresses. Furthermore, the present invention solves a long-felt need for a bed support surface which is transmissive to air thereby allowing air to reach surfaces of the body that are in contact with the underlying bed support surface. Furthermore, the present invention solves a long-felt need for a bed support surface which is waterproof and therefore can be used in hospitals for example, for patients who are incontinent. Finally, the present invention solves a long-felt need for lumbar support by providing an optional lumbar area support spring which can be readily added to the improved bed of the present invention to provide optional lower back support for those who wish to further decrease back strain that would otherwise occur when they lie flat on their back.